Dr.Rose Cleary, Senior archaeologist at UCC delivered a very interesting lecture to Emly Historical society on the significance of the excavations at Chancellorsland. These excavations were part of the Discovery Programme established by Charles Haughey in 1991. The excavations took place during the summer months from 1992 to 1996.
The great success of the project was the ability to recreate the economy and the environment of the Bronze Age in Chancellorsland. The contributions of specialists of many disciplines were required to arrive at the findings.
The evidence suggested that the farming economy was primarily pastoral. Cattle, sheep and pigs were kept and they were slaughtered at an optimal age for meat rather than milk production. However animals also provided milk for dairy produce and some cereals especially barley were grown.
The houses within the enclosure contained at least five rectangular, four oval and an U-shaped building. Rectangular and U-shaped buildings were extremely rare. A great range of tree species were used in their construction mainly hazel, alder, willow, oak and poplar.
The damp conditions preserved a wide variety of organic remains from the site which was important for the research.
The fieldwork was lead by the late Martin Doody and he also undertook the writing up and publishing of the results. Martin was grateful to the people of Emly, the Mulhall family and particularly Denis and Mairead Connolly and family who never complained of the intrusion into their farm year after year.
